Movement concentrated in bottom half of Sport Tours International/Hoopfeed NCAA DI Top 25 Poll for 3/19/19
No. 2 UConn will face the CAA champs, 15th-seeded Towson, in the first round of the NCAA tournament
Ticket PUNCHED ?? pic.twitter.com/OYZP8Z89Qi
— Towson Women's Basketball (@Towson_WBB) March 16, 2019
With conference tournaments completed and the NCAA tournament field set, the postseason version of the Sport Tours International/Hoopfeed poll did not have much movement among the top ten teams. With the exception of a few squads, most of the programs in the upper echelon of the poll won their conference tournament at least a week ago.
Results from the last batch of league tournaments over the past weekend led to some movement in the lower half of the rankings.
No. 14 Gonzaga dropped two spots after falling to BYU in the final of the West Coast Conference tournament title game last Tuesday. Nevertheless, the Zags still earned an at-large bid in the NCAAs as a No. 5 seed in the Albany Region facing Little Rock.
Unfortunately, Gonzaga will enter the tournament without the services of senior Laura Stockton, the top guard in the WCC, and sophomore guard Jill Townsend. Both players suffered leg injuries during the conference semifinals in a game vs. Saint Mary’s.
BYU did not break into the poll but garnered votes that would put the team at 29th place. The Cougars play Auburn in the first round of the tournament in the Chicago Region.
No. 17 Marquette saw the biggest drop in the poll, falling four places after losing to No. 24 DePaul in the Big East tournament final. The 74-73 win gave the Blue Demons back-to-back tournament titles and an auto bid to the NCAAs. DePaul is a No. 6 seed in the national championship tournament while Marquette is a No. 5 seed and will face the C-USA champion, Rice, in the first round of the NCAAs.
The No. 25 Drake Bulldogs also saw a significant drop after losing to the unranked Missouri State Lady Bears in the Missouri Valley Conference championship game. The loss ended a 12-game winning streak for Drake. The Bulldogs enter the NCAAs as a No. 10 seed and will face another team from the Show-Me State in the first round, the SEC’s Missouri Tigers. The Lady Bears are a No. 11 seed and will face DePaul in the first round.
Other teams that received votes: Florida State, South Dakota State, BYU, South Dakota, UCF, Central Michigan, Missouri, Missouri State, and Wright State.
Dropped out: Florida State
Sport Tours International/Hoopfeed NCAA DI Top 25 Poll for March 19, 2019
For games played through March 17, 2019
| Rank | School | Record | Last week | Change |
| 1 | Baylor | 31-1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | UConn | 31-2 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | Notre Dame | 30-3 | 3 | 0 |
| 4 | Mississippi State | 30-2 | 4 | 0 |
| 5 | Louisville | 29-3 | 5 | 0 |
| 6 | Stanford | 28-4 | 6 | 0 |
| 7 | Oregon | 29-4 | 7 | 0 |
| 8 | Iowa | 26-6 | 8 | 0 |
| 9 | Maryland | 28-4 | 9 | 0 |
| 10 | Oregon State | 24-7 | 11 | 1 |
| 11 | NC State | 26-5 | 10 | -1 |
| 12 | Syracuse | 24-8 | 15 | 3 |
| 13 | Iowa State | 25-8 | 14 | 1 |
| 14 | Gonzaga | 28-4 | 12 | -2 |
| 15 | South Carolina | 21-9 | 16 | 1 |
| 16 | Texas A&M | 24-7 | 17 | 1 |
| 17 | Marquette | 26-7 | 13 | -4 |
| 18 | Kentucky | 24-7 | 19 | 1 |
| 19 | Miami | 24-8 | 18 | -1 |
| 20 | Rice | 28-3 | 24 | 4 |
| 21 | Arizona State | 20-10 | 22 | 1 |
| 22 | UCLA | 20-12 | 20 | -2 |
| 23 | Texas | 23-9 | 23 | 0 |
| 24 | DePaul | 26-7 | NR | Â N/A |
| 25 | Drake | 27-6 | 21 | -4 |
The STI/Hoopfeed Poll is conducted weekly throughout season using a panel of media members and other women’s basketball professionals.Â
This week’s AP Poll || USA Today Coaches Poll
Voting Panel
- Mel Greenberg
- Joan Bonvicini
- Prentice Beverly
- Brenda VanLengen
- Charles Hallman
- Rhiannon Potkey
- Kristopher Gardner
- Jenn Hatfield (for Her Hoop Stats)
- Cindy Brunson
- Kevin Danna
- Jasmine Baker
- Ben Parker
- Viet Nguyen
- Michael Roberson
- Lisa Bodine
- LaChina Robinson
- Cheryl Coward
